Briefcase-Large: Big Brother, Big Savings

Lodi, Calif.-based Valley Landscaping is a jumbo-sized landscape contractor in California’s central valley with annual revenue of about $8 million. And with 50 trucks in the field every day, Valley Landscaping Controller Lorne Truscott says, “Keeping track of them is a challenge.”

So after spending several months evaluating its options, the 35-year-old company decided to install a FleetBoss Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system on its trucks about two years ago.

 “One of the reasons we chose the FleetBoss system was that it gives us ‘real time’ capability,” Truscott says. “We looked at other systems that cost less, but they required downloading the data at night. All our trucks would go out in the morning, come back to the yard in the evening and then download the information to our computer. Then someone had to run the individual reports the next day.

“We decided that wasn’t good enough for us. It was like reading yesterday’s newspaper. We needed to know what was going on right now. We made a conscious decision between the available systems that real time was the way to go.”

REAL-TIME BENEFITS
Truscott says that the real-time GPS system is “kind of like looking over the driver’s shoulder.

“If they are going over 70 miles an hour, for example, we get an alarm. So we can call them and tell them to slow down. You can get a 42-page document the next day that tells you that at 10 a.m. the previous morning, one of your drivers was doing 78 miles per hour for a period of time.”

Truscott compares this solution to ineffective dog training – you have to rub their nose in the smelly stuff while it’s happening.

“In this case, telling the driver about your concern in the ‘here and now’ is much better than telling him a day later. And possibly, he may have a legitimate reason for speeding up in a specific situation – such as trying to elude an erratic driver – that he’ll be able to tell you about if you talk to him within an hour or two. By tomorrow, he may not remember why he exceeded the speed limit.

“The bottom line is we care about our drivers.  Many of them have been with us a long time and we want them to know if there is a problem, so we can work together on a solution.”

Truscott says keeping an eye on excessive speed improves safety and helps keep insurance costs down through a safe driver program.

“The way we look at it, if you are going over 70 miles an hour, you are just looking for an accident,” Truscott says.  “In addition, traffic fines are expensive, and you’re bound to be using more gas. It’s well known that the faster you go, the more fuel you burn.”

REDUCED IDLE TIME
While Valley Landscaping never made an actual “before and after” comparison of vehicle idle time, the company now uses the real time GPS system to find when a truck engine in the 50-vehicle fleet is idling for more than five minutes.

“We can call the offending idler and tell him to shut off the engine,” Truscott says. “We never did quantify the numbers, but we knew there would be savings just from that alone. Put it this way: we are still saving many gallons of gasoline, which is a cost we can control, whatever the price of gas is. Cutting idle time also cuts down on vehicle wear and tear.”

WHERE AM I?
Having a GPS system brought an unexpected added feature. Truscott reports that the FleetBoss system has, on several occasions, found one of its trucks that was stuck somewhere in remote locations.

“We don’t exactly have remote locations that we service, but sometimes to get to our regular customers our drivers find it necessary to take county roads or alternate routes,” Truscott reports. “If a truck should break down – and it seems to be that this calamity usually occurs on a Friday afternoon when everybody is out of town for a holiday weekend – it is often difficult to find their precise location. Even though the streets around here are well identified and the roads are good, it’s difficult to locate a truck stuck on a county road where there are no street signs.”

Truscott says the GPS system eliminates the hide-and-seek aspect, saving both overtime and money in locating the disabled truck.

DRIVER PROTECTION
Truscott adds that the FleetBoss GPS system also protects its drivers from false accusations. “We know where our trucks are at any given time,” Truscott says. “So, as was the case recently when an irate lady called in to complain that one of our trucks had just tried to run her off the road, we were able to prove (using the GPS tracking system) that we had no trucks in her area at the time the alleged incident occurred.

“Plus, she says the truck that did the damage was red. Ours are white, with our name in green and yellow.”

Since Don Oliver founded the company in 1975, Valley Landscaping has strived to build a reputation for honesty and integrity. This effort has allowed Valley to expand into related businesses, adding a wholesale nursery, a green waste recycling company, and synthetic turf installation – all divisions that need to know where their vehicles are.

STILL LEARNING
Truscott reports that even though the FleetBoss GPS system has been in place in Valley Landscaping’s fleet for two years, he’s still exploring all the reports and options.

“We started out only installing units on our maintenance trucks, but the results were so good, we added them to our entire fleet.  We are now looking into the possibility of using the system to achieve the most efficient routing of our maintenance crews.” 

Still, Truscott says there’s been a learning curve with the system.

“We’ve had to replace some old units and had a few technical questions since installing the system. But FleetBoss installer Al Trevisan of Escondido, Calif.-based A&D Technology has been more than willing to answer questions and do whatever necessary to keep us moving quickly and efficiently.”